Home Run Kitten wins Eddie D. at Santa Anita

ARCADIA, Calif. (AP) Home Run Kitten rallied with less than a quarter of a mile to go and won the $100,000 Eddie D. Stakes by a nose over Ambitious Brew on Friday, opening day of Santa Anita's 25-day fall meet.

Ridden by Joe Talamo, Home Run Kitten ran 6 1-2 furlongs on the downhill turf course in 1:11.94 and paid $23.40, $9.80 and $5.80 at 10-1 odds.

Ambitious Brew returned $4.80 and $3.80, while Lil Bit O'Fun was another 1 1-2 lengths back in third and paid $3.60 to show.

Trained by David Hofmans, Home Run Kitten was next to last in the 11-horse field pa half-mile pole and last at the top of the stretch before rallying.

''He's a horse that's better when you put a little pace in front of him,'' said Talamo, who won his second race of the day. ''He has a tremendous turn of foot and every time he runs (in shorter races), he really shows it. We were pretty far back but I knew they were going pretty quick up front. When I got him to the outside, he just had that turn of foot.''

The victory, worth $60,000, increased Home Run Kitten's career earnings to $217,800, with four wins in nine starts.

The race is named for retired Hall of Fame jockey Eddie Delahoussaye, who presented the trophy.

''It reminded me of the old days,'' he said. ''I wish it was me.''